


Be Alright

by TheTimeTraveler24



Series: Riordanverse One-Shots [8]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Book 3: The Burning Maze (Trials of Apollo), F/M, Jason Grace Needs a Hug, M/M, Nico di Angelo Needs a Hug, Nico di Angelo is a Good Friend, Nico likes Mythomagic, Past Jason Grace/Piper McLean, Will Solace is a Good Boyfriend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:20:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27221113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTimeTraveler24/pseuds/TheTimeTraveler24
Summary: It's 2:30 AM and Nico di Angelo wakes up to someone knocking on his door.
Relationships: Jason Grace/Piper McLean, Nico di Angelo & Jason Grace, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Series: Riordanverse One-Shots [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1887385
Comments: 18
Kudos: 184





	Be Alright

Nico woke up to a pounding on his door. He opened his eyes blearily and blinked at the time on his clock. 2:30. Whoever was at the door had a lot of explaining to do. Or he could just leave them to the harpies.

“Nico, open up, it’s me,” a muffled voice said.

“Jason?” Nico called hesitantly.

“Yeah, come on.”

Nico grumbled as he rolled out of bed and opened the door. He took in Jason’s windswept hair and red eyes.

“Have you been flying all night from California?” he asked.

Jason nodded. “Can… can I stay here? I don’t really want to go to the Zeus cabin right now.”

Nico made a mental note that they’d have to fix up the Zeus cabin to be more inviting to Zeus kids since it was inevitable that a few would be showing up in roughly ten years. He stepped back and let Jason enter the cabin.

Jason sat down on the bed Hazel had used during her stay at Camp after the battle.

Nico didn’t really know what prompted Jason to fly (probably ride Tempest) all the way from California to New York. He checked for Piper’s soul. Still there. So she wasn’t dead. Why hadn’t Jason gone to her or even Frank, Hazel, or Reyna? They were much closer to Jason since they were all in California.

“Are you okay?” Nico asked.

Jason didn’t respond for a while. Nico didn’t say anything either. Finally, Jason spoke up.

“Piper and I broke up.”

Nico didn’t really know what to say. “Oh. Why?”

“She said something about Hera forcing us together,” Jason said. He picked up a pillow and started picking with the seams. “How our relationship wasn’t really real.” He looked up. “I still love her though. I know that’s real.”

“If you came here for me to tell you that she still loves you and if you just wait a few days, things will go back to normal, then you’re wrong.”

Jason shook his head. “I just… I wanted to get away, be with a friend. I was living with the McLeans, so… I needed to get some air.”

“Reyna’s closer. So are Frank and Hazel. Percy and Annabeth are closer than me.”

“You’re one of my best friends, Nico,” Jason said. “We’re practically cousins anyway, and I’m closer to you than Frank or Hazel. I barely feel like I know Reyna since the memory wipe and… well, Percy and Annabeth are…”

“Together?” Nico suggested.

“Perfect,” Jason said. He sighed. “Can we just… hang out? Like two normal friends?”

Nico blew out a breath. “At 2:30 in the morning?”

“Please?”

“Fine,” Nico grumbled. He reached under his bed and pulled out a box. “I’m only doing this to cheer you up, okay? If you tell anyone about this, I’ll kill you.”

He opened the box and set it on the floor. He sat cross legged and gestured for Jason to sit on the floor too.

“What’s that?” Jason asked.

Nico held up a card. “Mythomagic. Frank gave me a set when we visited New Rome and I’ve been collecting more. I, uh, I burned my first set. Long story. But like I said, tell anyone I still play, and you’re a dead man, Grace.”

Jason’s lips twitched. “I don’t know how to play.”

“I’m going to teach you,” Nico rolled his eyes. “Each card has a different god, monster, hero, or magical item and the bottom of the card lists what it does. Here’s Zeus. If you use his lightning bolt attack, it does 600 damage.” He rambled on for a bit, explaining the rules and showing Jason how to combine cards.

“This sounds complicated,” Jason said.

Nico scoffed. “I learned how to play when I was like ten or eleven. It’s not that hard.”

“But if Hades gets attacked, shouldn’t that reduce his power, not increase it?” Jason said. “He goes from 4000 to 5000 if he’s attacked first. And why does Ares give you infinite health for three rounds? Shouldn’t that be Apollo?”

“It’s a kids game, Jason, it’s not that deep,” Nico said.

They played a few rounds which Nico definitively won.

“Nico?”

“Hmm?”

“How’d you do it?”

Nico looked at him. “Do what?”

“Face Percy everyday knowing that it wouldn’t happen,” Jason said. His face was emotionless, but his voice was tight. “How do you look at someone who doesn’t feel the same way?”

“I didn’t,” Nico answered. “I ran away. A lot. I’m not a good example of what to do, Jason.”

“But it worked,” Jason pointed out. “You got over him and you’ve got Will now.”

“Don’t ignore your problems,” Nico warned. “I got Will because I  _ stopped _ ignoring my problems.”

Jason didn’t say anything to that.

Nico cursed himself. What was he supposed to say to fix a broken heart?

“Alright. It hurts. A lot. Every kiss he gave Annabeth was a knife in my chest. Every smile was a punch in the gut. And it took me a long time to realize that I deserve better than that. It took me even longer to realize that I  _ could  _ have someone. Will helped me realize that. Well, you did too, I guess. Admitting my crush to you started it.” Nico paused. “I know you love her, but it’s over. And Piper’s right about one thing. Hera forced you two together. You both deserve better than that. When you go back to California, move back to Camp Jupiter, find another school, I don’t care. Just don’t run away from this. It’s going to hurt, but… You’re going to find someone else. Eventually, you’re going to heal.”

Nico was worried that he’d gone too far when Jason squeezed him in a tight hug.

“Thanks, Nico.”

“Any time, Jason.”

By the time they finally crawled into bed, it was nearly 6:00.

When Will poked his head in two hours later, he saw the remains of the night’s Mythomagic games and the two sleeping boys sprawled on the Hades cabin beds. He almost backed out when Nico opened his eyes.

Nico quietly stepped outside and shut the door.

“Jason’s here?” Will asked. “Since when?”

“Early this morning,” Nico answered. “He needed help with something. We stayed up late talking.”

Will frowned. “How late? Nico, you look exhausted.”

Nico yawned. “Uh, he got here at 2:30 and we went to sleep at 6:00?”

“Breakfast, and then back to bed,” Will ordered.

“I went to sleep early,” Nico protested. “I got at least eight hours.”

“Nope. You’re going to take a nap.”

After they had breakfast, Will marched Nico back to the Hades cabin. When they got there, Jason was gone and the Mythomagic cards had been neatly placed back in the box. A small note sat on top of the box.

_ Thanks, Nico. I’ll see you in June unless you can manage to get Will to let you shadow travel all the way to California. ~Jason _

“He’s riding Tempest probably,” Nico told Will who looked ready to scream at the idea of Jason flying back to California on two hours of sleep.

“What happened?” Will asked.

Nico hesitated. “It’s personal. He just wanted my advice about something. I don’t suppose I can convince you to let me shadow travel to Camp Jupiter next month?”

“Absolutely not,” Will said. “We can take a bus. Road trip? Get Percy and Annabeth on the way?”

Nico snorted. “Great idea. Two children of the Big Three in one spot.”

“I’ll bring extra ambrosia and nectar,” Will said. “You bring really sharp weapons.”

“Done.”

* * *

A few weeks later, Nico stared at the note Jason had left him.

_ Thanks, Nico. I’ll see you in June unless you can manage to get Will to let you shadow travel all the way to California. ~Jason _

He thought about their last conversation.

_ “Thanks, Nico.” _

_ “Any time, Jason.” _

He had run out of the dining pavilion much to the astonishment of the other campers. Chiron had been in the middle of giving announcements when Nico shoved his plate off the table and stormed off.

He didn’t go to the woods. He went to his cabin and found the note.

“Nico?” Will knocked on the door. “You okay? What happened?”

Nico didn’t answer him. The door opened and Will stepped in.

“You’re breaking the rules,” Nico said flatly.

“Don’t care. What happened?”

“He’s dead.”

Will flinched. “What? Who’s dead?”

“Jason. He’s gone.” Nico crumpled up the note and threw it on the ground.

Will picked it up and uncrumpled it. “Nico…”

“Don’t. Jason’s gone. I… He was my first real friend and now he’s gone.” Nico looked up at Will. “When he was here a few weeks ago, he came because Piper broke up with him. He wanted to know what to do. He wanted someone to talk to. He… he chose to come to me. Not Reyna or Frank or Hazel or Percy or Annabeth. Me. Because I’m his—I  _ was _ his best friend. He’s the first one I told about Percy and… he was the first person who didn’t care.”

Will took a seat on the bed next to Nico.

“Everyone who cares about me ends up dead,” Nico whispered. “My mother, my sister, Jason…”

“Not me,” Will said firmly. “I’m not leaving you.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I do know that,” Will said, sounding insulted. “Even if I  _ did _ die, I’d come back as a ghost or something and yell at you to get enough sleep and eat enough food and not to overuse your powers. I’d be the one ghost you couldn’t boss around, Mr. Ghost King.”

Nico gave him a small smile. “Probably. You’re annoying like that.” The smile fell from his face. “Cupid was right. Love and Death are alike. They both hurt us. It’s not fair. I was happy and then Death took Bianca. Cupid… Cupid played his sick game with me and now I’m finally happy and Death takes Jason. I hate them. I hate them all. I let myself be happy and as usual, I got my heart broken.”

Will took Nico’s hand. “If it can be broken, that means it still works.”

“I just want everything to go back to normal,” Nico whispered.

“Me too,” Will said quietly. “Me too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Was listening to the radio and I heard the song "Be Alright" and I was like "The chorus is perfect. That is Jason/Piper breakup song (chorus, whatever)." Then it kinda... it snowballed. I didn't mean to include the last part! It just happened and now I'm going to cry myself to sleep, excuse me.


End file.
